Last Monday, 50 police officers from Lake Success, Kings Point, Great Neck Estates, the 6th Precinct and other local police departments all over Nassau County received special training from the Nassau County Bureau of Special Operations on tactics and strategies for intervening effectively if they were first on the scene in a school shooter situation.

Lt. Tony Campagna briefed a group of Great Neck School District administrators, teachers, custodial staff and parents who are members of the district's safety committee and the United Parent Teacher Council prior to the beginning of the drill that lasted several hours. He said that the philosophy of law enforcement has undergone a sea change since the horrors of the Columbine tragedy in 1999. At that time, local police secured the perimeter of the building and waited for SWAT members to arrive, but by the time the elite team arrived, the shootings were over. The average time for most school shootings from beginning to end is 16 minutes. While Nassau County S.W.A.T. (Special Weapons and Tactics) members are on patrol night and day, all over the county, it becomes crucial for local police officers to learn how to evaluate a situation and move into a school quickly, locate and disable the shooter and secure the safety of students and staff.

If there is a hostage situation, however, Nassau County's police department has a special hostage negotiation team that would be deployed to intervene and to "talk down" the perpetrator for hours or days if necessary.

During the course of the day, teams of police moved smartly through the building learning how to position themselves to minimize injury to fellow officers and how to deal with various scenarios in a fluid situation. Lt. Campagna said that the contact, search and rescue drills were practiced 8 or 9 times for each officer and that he was pleased with the day's results because rote training kicks in when emergencies arise. Lt. Campagna also noted that Great Neck schools were well ahead of the curve in having safety measures already in place.

In addition to the local police being trained, almost 50 other special assignment officers were present for the training. One member of the S.W.A.T. team played the role of the shooter. Teens, who are members of the county's Explorer Club for young people interested in a career in law enforcement, played the parts of threatened and injured students.

David Kincaid, school district consultant, was responsible for setting up the "real space" opportunity for the police drill because he had been made aware of the need and he felt it could be a very beneficial experience for the school community. One of the realizations from the day's experience was that school district administrators need to give thought to where school programs could relocate in a worst case scenario if a school building became a crime scene.

According to Lt. Campagna, the FBI has not developed a profile on identifying characteristics of school shooters and in fact authorities have warned against the over-labeling of students based on superficial observations. However, there are many resources available to help school districts evaluate threats, develop protocols and establish reliable preventative measures.

School district superintendent Dr. Ronald Friedman attended the drill and told the Record that the district has purchased a program that will boost their ability to communicate quickly with parents regarding any emergency situations, such as rapidly changing weather conditions. Parents now give the school contact information that will allow the district to deploy messages via email and text messaging in addition to phone numbers.

UPTC president Mindy Horowitz said that she thought the "drill had been handled very professionally." She added that the district's safety committee, composed of parents, students, staff, custodians and administrators, is very active and involved, holding regular and productive meetings and learning more about keeping schools safe environments.

A similar drill is scheduled for the campus of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy with the cadets present on Aug. 28.